(CNN) -- Strong support from young and minority voters propelled Barack Obama on the road to the White House, exit polls showed Tuesday.

Students wait in a long line to vote Tuesday on the campus of the University of Central Florida.

Voters in the 18 to 24 age group broke 68 percent for Obama to 30 percent for John McCain, according to the exit polling. Those in the 25 to 29 age bracket went 69 percent to 29 percent in Obama's favor.

The only age group where McCain prevailed was 65 and over, and that by just a 10-percentage-point margin, 54 percent to 44 percent, the exit polls showed.

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Those who said race was an important factor voted 55 percent to 44 percent in favor of Obama. But Obama also was the winner by a similar margin among those who said race was not important, "which suggests that race was not a decisive factor in this election," Schneider said.

The economy was the top issue in the election among 62 percent of voters questioned in exit polls on Tuesday.

It was far ahead of the second-place issue, the Iraq war, which was named as the top concern of 10 percent of voters polled.

Those who picked the Iraq war as their top issue mostly voted for Obama in all but two states, according to the early exit polling results.

Health care and terrorism were tied at 9 percent as the issue voters were most concerned about, according to the exit polling. Those who picked terrorism as their top concern overwhelmingly choose McCain, according to exit polling.

High income voters -- those who said they make at least $100,000 a year -- went in Obama's favor, 52 percent to 47 percent.

Many of those polled said they expect a post-election tax increase, with 49 percent predicting their taxes will rise no matter who is elected president. Another 22 percent said taxes will go up only if Obama wins, and 12 percent said taxes will go up only if McCain wins. Only 15 percent said their taxes will stay the same or go down.

A bare majority of those surveyed -- 51 percent -- think the government should do more to solve problems. Forty-three percent believe the government is doing too much. At the same time, early exit polling shows only a minority of voters -- 40 percent -- support the $700 billion government plan to assist failing financial companies. Fifty-six percent are opposed. Watch CNN's Bill Schneider explain how the economy dominated voter concerns »

GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin didn't do well in exit polls. Sixty percent of those polled said the Alaska governor is not qualified to be president if necessary; 38 percent said she is. That compares with the two-thirds of those polled who said Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden is qualified to be president and the 31 percent who said he isn't. Watch CNN's Jack Cafferty ask what issue is most important »

Many voters told the pollsters that they made up their minds early in the campaign season, with 61 percent saying they made up their minds before September, another 13 percent saying they decided in September and 17 percent saying they made their selection last month.

Only 7 percent of those polled decided whom to support within the last three days.

Exit polling also showed that Democrats who supported Sen. Hillary Clinton during the primaries overwhelming voted for Obama in the general election, 84 percent to 15 percent for McCain.

For the poll, more than 16,000 people who had just voted were selected at random to fill out questionnaires.